I have drawn my inspiration from the natural world around me. The flowers, seeds and figures that exist in such a variety of forms and shapes, provide infinite possibilities and combinations for vessels. The water, as well its abundant life forms, has begun to be a great inspiration to me since moving back the coast. With these life forms in mind, both marine and terrestrial, the pieces become vessels of new life. These vessels seem to be caught just at the point of being brought to life or spewing forth an entirely new life or a snapshot of an alien flora being blown in the breeze or tossed about by water currents.

Each piece seems to be stretching out of its confined, comfortable womb reaching up for the sunlight, as if affected by the outside elements. I see my vessels as a combination of animal and plant, figural and still life. As if memories have come together to create a new flora as yet discovered, vessels giving life to new creations that are reminiscent of remembered, familiar plants, pod, and buds, just as each new child possesses glimmers of not only parents and grandparents, but family in all directions as far as the memory serves.

Just as the plants grow leaf by leaf, and the girth of a tree is expanded ring by ring, these pieces are grown coil by coil, slowly reaching up towards the sky. The pieces are each acted on by water, air, and the passing of time. As the previous coils harden and begin to dry, another layer is able to be added. In this way, I am able to capture in clay the vessels that appear in my imagination. My chosen glaze technique literally makes uses of plant matter. I have chosen to use ash glazes for their unique texture and visual effect. The runny quality of the glaze accentuates the variability of the vessel surface that comes from the coiling method. -- Maya Blume-Cantrell, potter